| Description | Jack and Em Elliot and Ned Booth talk about events during the General Strike
Track 1: discussion about blacklegs during the strike and attitudes towards them, ostracism of local people who became blacklegs, pitmen resented the fact that they were only there to break the strike, and were not actually producing coal because they didn't have the skills. Discussion of activities during the strike, seen in a way as the happiest days because they felt free from the enforced occupation. The speaker's father was working but others were not so lucky and almost starved, talk about food substitutes, unemployment grants and vouchers from the Co-op
Track 2: discussion of reasons for going back to work, and opinions about reasons the strike failed, discussion of changes after the strike, working for longer hours and worse pay, seen as better to join army than carry on in the pits, ommunities in Durham just as hard hit as at Jarrow, with high unemployment. Speakers talk about the loss of dignity as a result of unemployment, dole stopped unless you could report that you were seeking work, crawling to public assistance to prove you were genuine worker, comparative pay in pits and in other jobs, 'tramps' seeking work around the country, hard for Durham men going down to Yorkshire, with sub-contractors
Total: 19.58 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF573E0689080 |